Fireworks are pretty neat

Well we made it to 250 years. By the skin of our teeth, but we did. Even if the fascists win and the Constitution dissolves into a puddle of our collective tears in November, the great experiment that was America lasted for a quarter of a millennium. That's something!

We've packed a lot into those 250 years. A whole lot of awful things, yes, but some good stuff too. It's been nice to have World Cup visitors remind us of some of those nice things. Good to see ranch dressing get the global props it deserves, just to name one example.

Every other modern day in America seems intent on beating us over the head with awfulness, so may I suggest that we allow ourselves one day of hope and gratitude. This is still a pretty great country and Tr**p and his bootlickers don't get to take it away from us. Or claim the flag as theirs. Have a read of this excellent piece by Rebecca Solnit (of course), put on this playlist, and go wave some sparklers and drink a cold beer and cheer on another country's soccer team with your friends.

On that note, all my recs today are frothy fun.

📖 Havoc
One of the most fun and unique page-turners I've read in a long time. I don't want to spoil even a smidge of the plot, so will just say it's set in a hotel in Egypt during the pandemic and involves a surprising number of murders.

🎥 Voicemails for Isabelle (Netflix)
That's right, I'm recommending a Netflix rom-com. I told you we were being hopeful today. This is really pretty great, though, and Zoey Deutch is a delightful spark plug of an actress that I will watch in anything. Also she's Leah Thompson's daughter, which you can't unsee once you know it. ALSO I need to speak to the management about the lazy rendering of Austin as a backdrop in movies of late, but I’ll handle that separately.

🎥 Dick (Tubi)
This is damn delightful and I don’t understand why it isn’t better known. "After wandering off during a White House tour, two high school girls inadvertently become Richard Nixon's top secret advisers at the height of the Watergate scandal." I mean, come ON. Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams are brilliant together. And the fact that they’re clearly in on the joke is icing on the cake. And Dan Hedaya as Nixon? Somebody get this movie in the Criterion Collection.

I'm off to do something fun. Go America!

xoxo,
Carla